Ah the age old debate.

Religion.
"Only non-believers that want to perpetuate the myth will doubt. This is it now — we have unmasked him." – Russell Edwards

VS.

Science.
"needs to be subjected to peer review, with detailed analysis of the provenance of the shawl and the nature of the claimed DNA match with the perpetrator’s descendants and its power of discrimination." – Alec Jeffreys

I vaguely remember watching a show regarding this when the shawl first appeared and was tested to confirm it had belonged to Eddowes. Maybe there will be another TV programme about it. I would buy the book except I can’t shake the pessimistic feeling that there are going to be parts of the claimed ‘evidence’ that require ‘leaps of faith’. Hopefully not and this time a fellow armcharian has got it right.

Had the semen been on her clothing on her body, it would be a lot more convincing. Maybe they will be able to extract DNA from another victim’s clothing at some point now with some of these modern techniques.

This Edwards guy may be proven right someday, but, case closed?

If it is in fact his DNA on the scarf, than that would be good enough for me. You guys are forgetting this guy had been a prime suspect for good reason before this supposed DNA was identified. I still have a hard time, however, believing they were able to extract DNA from a much-handled 126 year old scarf.

If it is in fact his DNA on the scarf, than that would be good enough for me. You guys are forgetting this guy had been a prime suspect for good reason before this supposed DNA was identified. I still have a hard time, however, believing they were able to extract DNA from a much-handled 126 year old scarf.

Ah, that is true (DNA result). Rather think of how it got there.

QT

You guys are forgetting this guy had been a prime suspect for good reason before this supposed DNA was identified.

Tell that to Leather Apron.

Semen.

I have no doubt that the Ripper was someone cut from the same cloth as Kosminski.

Whether or not he was actually Kosminski is another story.

The DNA match seems persuasive on the face of it, I’ll tell you that.

And he owned some barbers’ razor knife, too.

QT

Another thing is that they matched the DNA to a descendant of Kosminski’s. That only proves that the sample belonged to someone who the descendant was related to. Since they don’t have Kosminkis DNA to compare it to, they can’t prove that it was his DNA on the scarf.

Yeah, but what are the odds that it was some other relative and not Kosminski? Probably pretty good. We are talking several generations back here, that probably includes a pool of hundreds or thousands of people.

I have to agree with the more skeptical posters here.

I am amazed that a semen stain would still yield any mtDNA after 120 years! There is no chain of evidence for this scarf over 120 years, we don’t know who handled it, was it ever mixed in with other clothes or bedding, and it was certainly touched by who knows how many hands over these years.

As others have pointed out, given that it is semen (not blood) it could well have come from a client. I will spare you the details about 19th century English prostitutes, suffice it to say they typically had many customers a night and very often did their business (actual sex acts) right there in the streets and alleys.

The other problem, and I have not seen this mentioned yet, is that mtDNA will match anywhere from 3 to 6% of the population. It usually gets larger when you get into specific ethnic groups. So, for example, this mtDNA might match 5 to 8% of the population of Poland. I think there were one or two other Polish JTR suspects besides Kominski.

So I am not convinced. And as others noted, this was not submitted for peer review to other scientists. Also, it was not done "blind" which would have been the best way to do this. In a blind test, the suspect mtDNA would extracted in a sterile lab under supervison, and then in another lab would be compared to five or so different mtDNA results, one being the Kominski descendants, the others being random people, with samples unlabeled, so the tester does not know which one is Kominski fanily. This avoids any bias or skewering of results and minimizes chances for intentional or accidental cross contamination.

Well I trust in DNA matching to Kosminski – but the question is: Why was he a Jack the Ripper suspect and can he be connected to another case? If so, I’d say the case is solved..if not, he probably was a customar and / or Jack the Ripper. Not sure if Jack the Ripper would have killed a prostitute after getting his blow..for what reason, just not wanting to pay? Getting his satisfaction after having killed them might be doubted for obvious reasons, too..anybody an idea why he was a suspect at all?

QT

Well I trust in DNA matching to Kosminski – but the question is: Why was he a Jack the Ripper suspect and can he be connected to another case?

Israel Schwartz, a witness who saw Liz Stride being assaulted just before she was found dead, apparently identified Kosminski as her attacker.

I don’t believe Liz was a Ripper victim, however.

Not sure if Jack the Ripper would have killed a prostitute after getting his blow..for what reason, just not wanting to pay?

Never underestimate how cheapskate people can get, lol.

In any case, achieving climax too early, for instance, might have driven him into a rage.

Elisabeth Stride is named to be the third (?) victim of Jack the Ripper..on wiki it’s said she learned to speak Yiddis’, too. The last men she was seen with had worn a ‘peaked cap’ or a ‘hard felt hat’ opposite a Jewish social club at ‘Berner Street’. A witness had seen nobody entering this yard to the club where she was later found. Her attacker obviously was disturbed by Schwartz, so that would explain why she had no further injuries than the slit throat, which is a mo of JTR. Also the incident happened during JTR high season..interesting case..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Stride

QT

Liz was killed on the wrong side of Whitechapel Road; she was away from Jack’s usual comfort zone. The murder weapon was different from the one used to murder Kate Eddowes, who died the same night; you’d think that if the Ripper killed her first, then went on to kill kate, he would have used the same knife.

Were any of the suspects mothers prostitutes?